


Blood and Ambrosia

by Zgirl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Sad, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 02:04:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4329624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zgirl/pseuds/Zgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That fic where Nico notices a weak life force and tries to fix it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A hum sounded from the light above the empty infirmary, while Alex sat at the desk, bored, tired and alone on this warm New York night, surrounded by nothing but empty cots and dark windows filled with light only cast by the moon and the stars. 

It was Thursday night, almost one in the morning, which of course meant Alex was working her shift in the infirmary. A daughter of Apollo and one of the most powerful healers at camp, she had been keeping herself busy after her mother’s death a year prior. That said, after the incident with her stepfather seven months ago, to say she had been overworking herself was the understatement of the century. She worked in the infirmary every chance she got and in every spare moment she had. She loved helping people and every time she had a chance to help someone else or make them feel better, she did without hesitation, even if it was detrimental to her own wellbeing.

She tapped her fingers on the infirmary’s desk slowly, in beat with a ballad she had been writing in her spare time. When she wasn’t at the infirmary healing, she was in her cabin, writing music with her guitar in hand or up on a ridge by the lake that was secluded enough she could be on her own. A yawn escaped her lips, as the limitations of not sleeping for a few days were catching up to her. She dug her nails into her new cuts on her wrist, trying to stay awake and alert as her vision blurred. She had gone particularly deep last night, the anniversary of her mother’s death. Still distraught and torn up about it, a year later, she was unsure of whether she would ever truly be over it. 

Her mother had been her best friend, her guide, and overall her saving grace. With an abusive stepfather and no other full siblings, her mom was all she had. That was, until her stepfather has crashed the car on the way to pick her up from school, killing her mother in the process and leaving her with only her stepfather. After an incident with her stepfather had caused her to run away from home, she had become a full time camper, at Camp Half Blood year round.

The door to the infirmary creaked open, jarring Alex from her train of thought, as Leo walked in, dark and bathed in only a slight glow from the overhead lamps of the infirmary. He walked timidly up to the desk as Alex stood up, walking around the desk to hug the red-eyed boy. 

She and Leo finally let go of each other and pulled away, only for Alex to study his face for a fraction of a moment before grasping his shoulders concernedly. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked, face contorted in worry. A power of the children of Apollo, Alex was known around camp for her strong intuition and ability to sense when someone was in pain, skills that made her the incredible healer she was. 

“It’s nothing.” He murmured, eyes not meeting hers and raking the ground. It obviously wasn’t nothing though, so Alex sighed, grasping Leo’s hand softly and taking him over to one of the cots. She had him sit down on the edge of the bed as he played with the sleeve of his old jacket, refusing to look up. She sighed, knowing what had happened and made her way to the back room of the infirmary, returning with an armful of supplies she knew she’d need. 

“Darling, you need to let me see. So I can help you.” She said softly, as the dark haired boy continued to pick at his sleeve before finally giving in and shrugging off his jacket.

Leo’s wrists were a mess, full of raised red cuts that still had dried blood clinging on and old silvery white scars that shined against the moonlight and soft light of the lamp. Alex tried to ignore the pain in her chest as she began working on autopilot. She gathered the peroxide and cotton she needed and kneeled down, settling in front of the boy before gently cleaning the cuts, which seemed to be a week old or so, yet she still cleaned them, just in case, before wrapping them in a soft gauze. She didn’t offer ambrosia or nectar; she knew the boy would refuse.

“Leo sweetie, I need to see the others. To make sure they’re ok.” She sighed again softly, rubbing her thumb softly against the back of his hand. She knew her best friend’s pattern by now, and he never came by the infirmary, especially at this hour, unless something had just recently happened. He mumbled incoherently about being sorry before slowly shimmying his jeans down to below his knees. 

Alex’s breath caught in her throat as she took in the scene before her. Leo’s thighs were absolutely horrible, covered in red cuts, only hours old. Some were deep, puckered, and thick, while others were shallow, nothing more than raised bumps. She looked up to him softly, with a look that simply asked, Why?

“Ran out of room.” Leo whispered, shame caught in his throat. Alex understood. She’d seen his wrists, full of the red marks. She simply sighed, cleaning and wrapping the wounds quickly as Nico sat silently, waiting for her to finish. As soon as she was, Leo pulled his jeans back up, not bothering with his jacket as he waited for the next part of his visit he knew would be coming. Alex stood slowly and sank down next to him, scooting up on the bed, sitting cross legged against the wall before beckoning Leo to come sit. She was a tiny girl, barely five foot three, but somehow they fit together, the son of Hephaestus sitting before her, lying between her legs. 

“What happened?” She asked, running her fingers through Leo’s hair soothingly. 

“Just overhead people talking about me. Couple of new campers.” He murmured, looking down on his jeans like they were the most interesting thing in the world, “They said I was weird. Annoying. The usual. And then they said something about me causing my mom’s death and I just…” His voice cracked at the end, barely able to keep it together for much longer. 

“Leo you know they’re not right. You know that”, Alex soothed, her tone sweet and low,” You’re amazing, and if they don’t see that now, they sure as Hades will learn to see it.” 

“I was doing so well.” He mumbled shamefully. Alex had been helping the boy for months after finding out about his habit, and each stumble was painful for both of them. 

“It’s ok darling. It’s ok.” She whispered, pulling the boy in close, knowing that all the boy needed was comfort right now. She kept soothing the boy, running her hand through his hair softly before he finally fell asleep.   
________________________________________________________________________________

With the help of Argus, Alex had gotten Leo back to his cabin and made sure he was ok before heading back to the infirmary for the rest of her shift. She finally got back to her own cabin after her shift around 8 in the morning, after all of her siblings were up and about for the day. She had until lunch to rest up for the day, and after the graveyard infirmary shift, she was exhausted. 

This was simply her role. She took care of everyone else in the camp, making sure everyone was ok but herself. Nobody knew what was truly hiding in the daughter of Apollo. Nobody knew of her twisted habit. Not Leo, not her brothers or sisters, not even her other best friend Annabeth. But that was just her role at camp. She wasn’t meant to bother anyone or hurt anyone else, only heal and help others. And if that meant destroying herself along the way, so be it. It was her fatal flaw after all.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey loser, wake up.” A voice rang through Alex’s quiet slumber as she groaned and rolled over; she opened her eyes, coming face to face with her best friend Annabeth, hanging out at the foot of her bed.

“Leave me alone to sleep.” She groaned, turning back over and bringing her pillow up over her head.

“It’s time for lunch you big dork,” She chuckled, leaning back against one of the couches set up in the cabin. Alex groaned again and swung her feet over the side of the bed. She threw on a pair of shoes and began walking out the door, still in her long sleeved camp shirt from yesterday.

“Oh hell no,” Annabeth protested, “You change out of that shirt this instant. You wore that last night to infirmary duty and you smell like peroxide big time.” 

Alex froze. She couldn’t take off her shirt for fear of Annabeth seeing her arm. Annabeth stood firm, crossing her arms with a look that she knew gave her no option of protest.

“I’ll just meet you there, since I still have to change and brush out my hair and all.” She quickly suggested, hoping Annabeth wouldn’t mind. 

“Sure, I’ll see you at lunch then.” She said, smiling as she walked out of the cabin. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex sighed, shrugging off her camp shirt and her jeans in exchange for clean garments. The shirt had reeked of peroxide, and she was glad to be rid of the smell that seemed to follow her after her shifts. Exhaling, Alex walked out of the cabin, heading towards the rest of the camp.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After an uneventful lunch, Alex went through her day, getting nothing but more exhausted as she learned and about monsters and magic and heroes. Everything began to blur together by the time she got to dinner, and she was constantly pressing her nails into her cuts, trying to stop herself from falling dead on her feet.

She quickly grabbed her food, scraping some into the fire and saying prayer to her father as always before making her way back to the table. 

“Hey Lex,” Her brother Will greeted, smiling softly as she sat down next to him and curled against his side at the Apollo table. He shot her a concerned look, that said, “We’re talking about it later, whether you like it or not.”

Her brothers and sisters all chattered happily around her as she allowed herself to rest her head on her brother, barely eating and mostly playing with the little food on her plate.

“You guys ready for capture the flag tonight?” She heard Will ask one of the more skilled archers of the group.

“Gods yes! I’m excited to finally get back in the action after working as healer for the last few games,” a boy with a wicked smile and sandy hair responded from across the table.

“That reminds me, Lex are you ok to act as healer for today? I know Eric over there is dying to get in the game.” Will turned to ask Alex, who was barely awake to answer. 

“Yeah sure no problem. I’m gonna head back to the cabin to take a quick nap before the game. I’ll catch up later.” She quickly said, getting up and heading back to the cabin before Will could comment on her untouched plate of food. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tears streamed down Alex’s face as she sat on the cool floor of the Apollo cabin bathroom. Hugging her knees tightly to her chest she attempted to stifle a sob as it made its way out of her throat, wracking her body and making her tremble. She had been perfectly fine, looking through her trunk to get a hairbrush when she had come across a photo of her with her mother, hidden after her death after the pain of seeing a photo of her had become too much. 

Now, Alex was rooting through her belongings once again, looking desperately for her saving grace in the form of a small piece of metal. Finally, her hand curled around the sharp red stained blade as she walked back into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She began crying as she dragged the blade across her wrist, shining tears mixing with red beads and flowing down onto the ground as she continued to create cuts in her arm. After she had finished, she rinsed her arm in the sink, using one of the many first aid kits to clean up her arm, not bothering with gauze. She hoped that since she wasn’t going to be doing anything too strenuous tonight, they wouldn’t reopen.

Alex slowly cleaned up the bathroom, stashing away any evidence of her dirty little secret carefully, before tying her hair back and making her way to capture the flag. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex made it to the temporary medic tent just as the games had begun. They were far enough away that they wouldn’t be caught in the cross fire, but close enough they wouldn’t be too far for a wounded camper to come find. She chuckled as she saw a brother of hers, Evan, pouting, sitting off to the side on a bench set up next to a line of cots. 

“Hey Ev, bummed you’re not out there?” She asked, sitting down on a bench opposite him.

“Yeah. I had a new bow one of the Cabin 9 kids made me that I really wanted to try out.” He frowned, completely bummed out. 

“Why don’t you go ahead? I can hold down the fort here. The injuries probably won’t be that bad tonight.” She suggested, hoping for some alone time to decompress. 

“You sure?” He said, looking ecstatic for an excuse to get in on the action.

“Of course,” She smiled and waved him off, settling back into the silence that surrounded the area. 

“Is this the medic tent?” A boy around Alex’s age asked as he came trudging up the hill grasping his shoulder where his clothes had been torn to reveal flesh and blood. He had shaggy brown hair and dark eyes and features, yet pale skin that seemed to glow in the low light of the area. 

“Yeah” Alex called out, pushing up off the bench while ignoring a pain in her arms before rushing down to help the boy. He looked at her strangely as she approached him, studying her intently before she grabbed his uninjured arm and led him to one of the cots, sitting him down carefully. 

“So what’s the story?” Alex asked, rummaging through the travel trunk of medical supplies while the boy spoke. 

“I’m not actually a regular camper, I come and go a lot so I didn’t really think to grab armor before the game, and I got slashed with a sword in my shoulder. It’s not that bad I don’t think.” He quickly said, wincing as he let go of the wound.

“Well at least now you know armor is your friend.” Alex chuckled, coming back with a sterilized needle and peroxide,”I’m gonna have to stitch you up before I give you ambrosia, so it heals properly. It shouldn’t hurt quite as much as a sword to the shoulder, but still.” 

Alex worked quickly and effectively, the healer almost in a trance as she worked off the boy’s blood stained shirt to reveal the pale, damaged skin beneath before beginning to stitch up the jagged cut along the junction of his shoulder. All the while, the boy had been staring at her, studying her intently like before. She constantly tugged at her shirt sleeve, trying desperately to keep her secret concealed at all costs. 

“Are you ok?” He finally asked as she was stitching up the wound. Her blood ran a bit colder at this, nobody really ever asked her.

“Just tired is all. I ran the infirmary’s graveyard shift last night.” Alex explained quickly, hoping the boy would drop it.

“Are you sure? I don’t think you know who I am, I’m not around much. I’m Nico, I’m a son of Hades. I’m around death a lot. And you look like you’re on the edge of it.” He said, his eyebrows furrowing as the daughter of Apollo continued stitching.

“Well thanks, glad to know I look great.” She sarcastically shot back, eyes still focused on Nico’s wound.

“That’s not what I meant. I can feel your life force and it’s very weak. You’re not ok.” He countered, trying to meet the gaze of the daughter of Apollo as she finished the last of the stitched, standing up and walking away to grab some ambrosia. 

“I’m fine.” She repeated, trying desperately to stop this stranger from breaking down her walls. She looked down at her arm to see a small amount of blood leaking out of her T-Shirt before rushing to cover it. She must’ve reopened the cuts somehow. Hurrying to get one of her siblings to relieve her of her duties, she handed him a square of ambrosia. 

“Thank you for patching me up.” He said quietly, before she began to walk away. He caught her damaged wrist before she could, and asked, ”What’s your name?” 

“Alex, now I have to go” She responded quickly before being released from his grip and hurrying away. 

She left so quickly she didn’t notice the steely look of horror on the son of Hades’ face when he saw the blood covering his hand.


	3. Chapter 3

“What’s up Nico? I’m kind of busy, so if it can wait, I can talk to you later.” Alex’s brother Will explained, hovering around the infirmary looking for this or that while Nico leaned against a wall attempting to talk to him. 

It was the day after the capture the flag incident, and Nico had not allowed himself to come to any rash conclusions until he talked to Will about his sister. He was more than worried, his mind jumping around to different ideas about what could be going on with the girl, but calmed himself enough to go out and find Will to talk.

“I’m worried about your sister.” Nico began, not sure how to talk about this with one of the most protective people he’d ever met.

“Which one Neeks, I’ve got a few.” He chuckled, while splitting a large bottle of peroxide into smaller bottles.

“Alex. She healed me the other day and I’m worried about her.” He continued, as Will’s eyebrows furrowed.

“What could be wrong with Lex? She’s healthy, I know that much, and I know her mom died but that was over a year ago and she seems fine. Why are you worried? Did something happen?” Will asked, face twisting into concern for his little sister. 

“It’s her life force. Completely strange. It’s really weak, which is really weird if she’s perfectly healthy. She seems fine on the outside, but trust me, something is very, very wrong.” Nico said, raking a hand through his hair in worry. He decided to leave the blood he found on his hand out of their discussion. If she was doing what he feared, she would be very upset if he told Will without her permission.

“Should I talk to her about it?” Will asked hesitantly, still very worried and upset hearing about his little sister.

“No, let me first. Do you know where I can find her?” Nico asked, wanting to talk to her before anything else bad could happen to the girl.

“She has camp activities all day but then she has a shift here after dinner tomorrow night during war games. It should be private enough for the two of you to talk, because of the war games.” He explained, leaning back against a cot and sighing. 

“Thanks Will. And don’t worry. She’ll be fine.” Nico reassured before heading out the door of the infirmary.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lake was shimmering in the hot afternoon sun as Alex and Annabeth sat down on the side of the water for a break from swords practice. 

“Man Alex. Nice work today. For an Apollo kid you do handle a sword pretty well.” Annabeth laughed, taking a sip out of her bottle. Alex smirked and chuckled, guzzling down some of her own water.

“You’re not too bad yourself Annabeth. So how’s Percy?” She asked, wiping sweat off of her brow and leaning back onto her hand. 

“Seaweed brain is as good as always. His friend Nico is at camp for a little while. He was supposed to go back to the underworld today, but apparently he’s worried about a camper. So they’ve been hanging out some in the last few days.” She said, as Alex began to get nervous. He couldn’t be worried about her? They had just met. Just because her life force or whatever was out of whack didn’t mean he was staying just to make sure she was ok. 

“So are you gonna do war games tomorrow night or are you working yet again?” Annabeth questioned, leaning back against her arms.

“Working again. Sorry. We’re supposed to be getting a couple of new recruits and they need me on hand just in case something goes wrong” Alex explained, not including that she was worried the war games would reopen particularly deep cuts she had made the night prior.

“That sucks. Anyways, breaks over. Let’s see if you hold up in round two!” Annabeth smirked, brushing herself off before jogging back over to the arena.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex was bored out of her mind, tapping another rhythm on the counter as another night wasted away with nobody in the infirmary. The peace was nice though, and it was a great break from her siblings. She absolutely adored her siblings, more than anyone on the planet, but at times they were so cheery, so bright… It was hard to be a part of that group of people when she simply wasn’t. 

Suddenly the door creaked open, as the son of Hades made his way into the room tentatively. Alex began to get nervous. Nico couldn’t be here for a good reason. 

“Hey Alex. Mind if we talk?” He began, struggling to find a good place to begin the conversation as he walked up to the infirmary desk where Alex sat, contemplating blowing off the boy and refusing, before standing tentatively and following him over to two cots. She sat down across him and wrapped her arms around herself, scared of being vulnerable under the soft gaze of the dark haired boy.

“I don’t know how to talk about this with you, to tell you the truth.” Nico started to explain, running a hand through his hair and letting out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding, “But I needed to talk to you about it, not ignore it like you probably wanted me to. I’ve seen a lot of death. A lot of it. And I’ve seen so many people near death that I can’t ignore it anymore when I see it. So, I have to ask again. What’s wrong Alex?” 

She stared at him and said nothing. Nobody had ever seen through the mask she put on at work, or with her siblings or friends. Nobody had ever asked her if something was wrong. Ever. 

“I’m fine.” She lied easily as she sighed and rolled her sleeves down over her hands before standing up and attempting to walk away.

“Then let me see your arms.” Nico called out. Alex froze, her blood running cold. She could feel every beat of her heart, as everything in the room went still at his request. 

“I told you to leave me alone.” She finally forced out, her voice cracking as she rushed past the son of Hades out of the room, leaving a distressed Nico behind.


End file.
